Yokohama Japanese Restaurant
980 Blanshard Street
Victoria, BC
(250) 384-5433

2016 Update: This operation has since closed and become Xiang Rui Chinese Restaurant.

The Yokohama Japanese Restaurant has been around since ‘79, but that doesn’t mean anything in terms of quality. Especially in regards to the quintessential ingredient that’s used in Asian cuisine—rice.

At dinnertime, their “Regular Sushi” was priced at $13.95, $2 more than what’s listed on their lunch menu. Let’s hope that wasn’t a misprint. Both came with a bowl of shabu soup. The soup arrived quickly, and I gulped the flavourful broth down in nearly no time. When I was examining the ingredients in this soup, I wondered about the other flavours. The carrot slivers tasted like they came from the outer skin than the core, and the mushrooms were nothing special. Normally, I’d expect to have shitake than white, so I was left with mixed feelings when the bowl sat empty.

As for the main meal itself, I was mildly disappointed. The chefs here don’t worry about presentation, so for those looking for street vendor style service, Yokohama can be the place to go. The ingredients reflect it. The rice in the sushi rolls was too mushy and bland. When compared to the rice used in my nigiri pieces, the quality jumped up by a notch. However, the shrimp tasted a little off. As for the salmon and tuna, passable.

At least the portions were generous. Scallop is always hard to screw up on. The mackerel was good too, but there was a bit of fishiness which made me question its freshness. I’m thinking they were a few days old.

Another thing I noticed was the lack of service. The waitresses didn’t come to ask how my meal was and I didn’t get a refill of green tea until I was ready to pay. At least they were good-looking, but that isn’t enough to make me come back–not even for their all-you-can eat nights.

2½ Blokes out of 5